


January

by L0stInSpace



Series: January. [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: 5+1 Things, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25433521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L0stInSpace/pseuds/L0stInSpace
Summary: All he focused on now were the calming blue eyes he knew so dearly, the ones that told him that no matter what, he was home.Or, the 5 times friends find out about Max & Lando dating, and the 1 time they tell the world instead
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell, Lando Norris/Max Verstappen, Nicholas Latifi/Lance Stroll (mentioned)
Series: January. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947442
Comments: 14
Kudos: 137
Collections: Summer Break Fics 2020





	January

**Author's Note:**

  * For [F1_rabbit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1_rabbit/gifts).



> This was such a joy to write, honestly! I've never written Max/Lando before so I really hope I've done it justice, it was really fun to write this and incorporate so many real life events into the mix.  
> The title's from the song January by Verzache, which I think sets the mood to this quite well, at least maybe represents Lando's feelings here.  
> Anyways, hope you like this :)

Relative silence fell over the paddock, skies illuminated by the soft glow of fireworks as the parties already started in some garages, other teams trying to forget the season, looking forward to next year. George couldn’t wait for what the year would bring, it had been fun in f2 but nothing would compare to knowing you’d be making your formula 1 debut the next year, and he was lucky enough to be doing so alongside his childhood friends Alex and Lando.

He couldn’t help but wonder how they’d all get on, whether he’d ever make it up to Mercedes, if Alex would make it to Red Bull, if Lando would lead the Mclaren revolution, all these questions running through his mind as he realised, the next race he’d be attending would be his formula 1 debut.

A short sharp giggle rose above the small chatter in the paddock, one which George knew to be Lando’s. His eyes followed the Brit’s frame as he quickly darted into an alleyway, following another figure who he could barely make out. He knew Lando had some friends around the paddock, sure, but this didn’t look like what friends would be doing, instead something far more intimate.

Curiosity got the better of him, and George proceeded to walk closer, realising that the second person was none other than Max Verstappen, the red bull prodigy. He saw Max leaning against the wall, figure partially illuminated by a light by the motorhome, colours also running over his skin from the fireworks. He saw Max gently reaching out to run his hands through Lando’s curls, smiling softly as the Brit relaxed into his touch, and George realised that this was something he probably shouldn’t be playing witness to. Lando hadn’t even told him he liked guys, let alone was dating Max Verstappen, and George figures this was something relatively new, something neither man was willing to tell anyone just yet.

Lando took to his tiptoes as he leant upwards, placing a quick kiss to Max’s lips, hands coming to rest on the Dutchman’s shoulders. It was a quiet moment between the 2 of them, obscured from the public’s wandering eyes, and George felt guilty for being curious, wanting to intrude on something so intimate and pure.

George slowly walked away as the pair continued their silent conversation, knowing that Lando would eventually tell him when the time was right.

* * *

Carlos had grown very fond of his teammate through the duration of 2019, instantly hitting it off with him in a way he’d never had with anyone else. There was something about the young Brit which always brightened the room, and Carlos was instantly drawn in.

Lando generally kept himself to himself, never revealing too much about his private life, but it didn’t stop Carlos from trying to find out more, slowly worming his way into the Brit’s life. He didn’t miss the way Lando’s eyes often followed a certain Dutchman around the paddock though, and Carlos wondered if it was a case of a crush or whether there was something more that the Brit hadn’t told him yet.

Summer break was fast coming up, and they were just casually talking in the hotel bar, when Carlos dared to try to find out more, hoping it wouldn’t push him away.

“You’re going somewhere on break, no?” He asked cautiously, watching as Lando slowly brought the cocktail glass to his lips, taking a quick sip of whatever fruity concoction Carlos had ordered for the pair of them.

“Yeah, I’m off to Croatia for a bit. Can’t wait to get away from it all.” He told the Spaniard, a soft smile playing on his lips as he said it, a soft blush coating his cheeks.

“I heard Max was going there, you planning to meet up or anything?” Carlos asked him, gently trying to edge towards the topic he’d been curious about for a while.

“Uhh…” Lando stuttered out, unsure of what to tell the Spaniard in reply. He knew he could trust Carlos but even then, the relationship wasn’t something he was too comfortable talking about. He loved Max, he really did, but the prospect of telling other people about it scared him, he wanted to ideally keep it between the pair of them.

“It’s okay, cabron. You can tell me the truth.” Carlos reassured him, reaching across the table to gently squeeze his hand.

“Yeah, we’re going as a couple, but you probably figured it out.” He told the Spaniard, smiling gently at the thought of the Dutchman. He was relieved to finally get it out his system, even if Carlos had almost forced the matter. He knew Carlos wouldn’t tell anyone though, Carlos was respectful like that.

“Enjoy it, and tell Max I say hi!” Carlos nudged him gently, laughing as Lando’s cheeks turned beet red.

“Sure will!” He managed to reply before taking another sip of the cocktail, another rush of alcohol hitting his system. He was glad to have told Carlos, but ideally it wouldn’t have been under these circumstances, but now he knew it meant 1 less person he was hiding the truth from.

* * *

Singapore’s press conference was quite a dull moment, hardly any of the drivers wanting to really be there. Daniel was stuck in the middle of the panel, with Max and Lando to one side, Robert and Antonio on the other side, and most of the questions seemed to be falling to the others, especially Max. It gave him an opportunity to take a look around the room, out at the sea of journalists noting every word they said.

He continued to look around the room curiously, until his eyes fell to Max’s thigh, where his fingers lay tangled with Lando’s. Daniel wasn’t exactly surprised, he knew the pair were good friends, but he’d always hoped Max would tell him first, given the fact they regularly talked. Looking at them, he saw the blissful expressions resting on their faces, and looking out to the journalists, it was clear they had no idea what was going on, thinking that instead they were just excited to race. 

Daniel had hoped to find someone special, but with his schedule it just never worked, nobody seemed willing to make the sacrifice. But Max, he’d found Lando, and Dan was happy that his friends could be happy. 

He tried to put the memory out of his mind as a journalist mentioned his name for the next question but it still remained, the silent gesture of love ever present in his mind, something so small yet so affectionate.

* * *

It was never in Alex’s nature to hold grudges, even after opportunities slipped out of his reach in such brutal fashion. Brazil was one of those, a maiden podium being taken with only 2 laps to go, and though it was devastating, he was still relatively alright, a drive for 2020 already confirmed during the week. It wasn’t all bad news for the team though, with Max taking victory after an almighty fight with Lewis, and he couldn’t help but let out a smile at the joyous team, wishing that he could’ve caused that for them too. 

Walking to the motorhome, he snuck into Max’s side, knocking on the door to alert the Dutchman that he wanted to come in. A bit of shuffling was audible through the door before Max greeted him, taking a seat on the massage bed, Alex resting on the sofa instead.

“I guess I should say congratulations?” he suggested to the Dutchman, offering a polite smile as he adjusted slightly on the soft material of the couch.  
  
“Thanks man, you should’ve been p2. You deserved that.” He offered in response, trying to make light of the situation late in the race, something he was still a little angry for. Besides, Alex was the innocent party, and it should’ve been a team 1-2 in his mind.  
  
“I’ll have other opportunities, maybe this one’s not meant to be?” the Thai driver just questioned, knowing he already had a deal for 2020 so more opportunities to prove himself. 

“You could see it that way. 2020’s gonna be better for us though.” Max chimed in, trying to lift the spirits for the pair of them. He hated seeing Alex being so hard on himself, and wanted the morale to be high to see the season out with a positive.  
  
“I hope so, we deserve it.” Alex replied with a firm nod, trying to smile in return to his teammate, who just smiled back, settling into a comfortable silence afterwards.  
  
“Do you have plans for after the season?” Max suddenly asked, tearing Alex’s daze away from the corner of the room, looking around curiously at all the scattered clothes.  
  
“Taking a trip to Japan for the new year, and then back into training after that. What about your plans?” he casually shrugged, watching as Max’s expression turned into a slight smirk.  
  
“That wouldn’t happen to be with George, would it?” He questioned, noting Alex’s cheeks gaining a slight pink tint at the mention of the Brit.  
  
“Are we that obvious?” Alex sighed in response, knowing that yet another person had caught wind of his newly developed relationship with George.

“Alex, you literally wore his hoodie for instagram posts, you’re as subtle as a brick. How you’ve kept it secret from the world, I’ve no clue.” Max stated in return, laughing slightly at the end, not understanding how the fans hadn’t caught wind of their relationship.  
  
“You’re one to talk, given you’ve got Lando’s hoodie in the corner of the room.” Alex pointed out in response, noticing the familiar papaya orange garment hidden away behind some of his clothes, a sleeve sticking out into his view.  
  
“We’re not dating though?” Max questioned him, noticing Alex raising an eyebrow over the familiar orange material in his driver room.

“Oh, so you’d just casually have your friend’s hoodie tucked away in the corner of your driver room then?” he shot back at the Dutchman, noticing Max’s smile fading slightly.  
  
“Fine, we’ve been together since last August. I don’t enjoy admitting it to people, given what my father said when he found out.” Max snapped at him in response, regretting his tone almost instantly as Alex shied away slightly, an expression of regret coming to rest on his features.  
  
“I’m so sorry. I’ll keep your secret though, I promise you.” he just replied, not really knowing what more to say. It wasn’t a surprise to him, given his friendship with both Lando and Max, but it did surprise him that Max was leaving little clues like that out in the open. It made him think back to the things he and George did, and he’d definitely need to be a bit more careful now.  
  
“Thank you Alex.” Max softly replied to the Thai’s kindness, smiling towards his teammate gently.  
  
“Anytime Max.” Alex told him in return, a smile also playing on his lips.

* * *

Quarantine had given all the drivers the new occupation of Twitch streamers, and the F2 squad had taken it upon themselves to organise some tournaments online as fundraisers, for a bit of light relief. It had kept them busy in the time of unknown, and had produced a fair few funny moments to look back on, including Baldo Norris and Alex’s raging screams of George’s name. 

It had also caused a few personal secrets to come flying out into the open, including some of the grid’s previous relationships and flings, from drunken kisses to one night stands and more. Lando would rather have not heard any of the talk, because he knew there was a risk that he and Max’s relationship would be discussed, and he didn’t want to be talking about it just yet, even if he knew some of the group already knew. 

He was currently in a group call after one of the virtual gp’s, joined by Alex, George, Charles and Nicholas, the f2 group of the f1 grid, and he could tell the call was about to go the usual way, heading into the gossip zone of weeks past.

“Geez Alex, can you stop messing with George on track, the audio through these headphones is not something I’d like to hear again.” Charles laughed, remembering exactly what the joint radio call had been like between all of the drivers, and the chaos the open channel brought.

“It’s why I put you all on mute!” Nicholas suddenly chimed in, a slight giggle on his lips as he let everyone else realise what he’d done.  
  
“Be more like Nicky in the future, Charles!” Alex gently nudged him, a playful tone in his voice.  
  
“You’re one to talk, you’re screaming George’s name exactly like you do in the bedroom!” Lando shot into the conversation, causing the rest of the group to fall silent for a moment.  
  
“For fucks sake Lando, they did not need to know that!” George groaned, and Lando guessed that his cheeks were probably beet red from embarrassment.  
  
“Next thing we know, Nicky will’ve actually got himself a quarantine buddy like he’s been complaining about for ages.” Alex jokingly added, causing Charles to laugh further, everyone picking up on the desperation from the Canadian when lockdown initially set in.  
  
“No comment.” he politely commented to the group, who seemed to sense the lie immediately.  
  
“That’s a yes then. Seems we’re really getting everyone’s secrets out into the open tonight.” Charles added almost immediately, causing a shrill laugh from George, Alex also muffling his laughter.  
  
“Me & Lance might’ve connected and agreed to isolate together in London. Besides, if we’re talking secrets, you should be looking at Lando, who’s done a pretty poor job of hiding things with Max.” Nicky eventually added, the end part aimed specifically towards the young Brit, who he’d known was hiding something for a while, even as early as their f2 days.

  
“You knew?” Lando stuttered out, partially in disbelief, and partially in shock, he thought he’d been more careful than what had transpired.  
  
“I’ve known for a while. It’s no issue, you’re still the same guy you always were.” he reassured the Brit, the others joining in, stating they either already knew or didn’t exactly mind, nothing negative said in reaction.  
  
“I’m literally the only one here who doesn’t have a boyfriend!” Charles eventually laughed out, trying to inject a bit of humour into the call which had suddenly turned very serious.  
  
“Charles you’re straight, that’s why you’ve got a girlfriend.” Alex shot back at him, causing the group to break into ruptures of laughter.  
  
“Yeah I don’t think Charlotte would be happy if I had a boyfriend.” he added on, sighing slightly as the conversation continued to flow, topic changing to the upcoming season restart in a matter of weeks.

* * *

By this point, Lando had given up even trying to hide the relationship with Max - basically all of the paddock knew and nobody was going to give up their secret, it was theirs and theirs alone. But the question of letting the world know had crossed his mind a few times beforehand, how would the public react if they knew he was dating his rival, the man who could potentially become his title rival. Fear was initially why he’d been so hesitant to share, but the thought kept bugging him, to just let his heart be free, and the more he thought about it, the more he hoped Max would agree.

Fortunately, he was easy to convince, and they warned their pr departments about their intentions, preparing pr statements for when the news went public. Of course, in typical Lando style, they chose a twitch livestream, but one specifically titled “big news” - it certainly was the biggest thing either of them had done in their careers to this date, and something that would define the rest of their lives for sure.

“Are you ready to let the cameras roll?” Max asked him, throwing his arms around Lando’s waist as they set the camera up, adjusting the lighting ever so slightly to match the sunlight filtering in through the windows of Lando’s house.  
  
“I guess. I’ll do the talking and once the news drops, you can come in and join me, okay.” he nervously replied to the Dutchman, feeling a soft pair of lips ghost against his cheek as Max placed a quick kiss there.  
  
“You’ll be okay, babe.” Max told him firmly, smiling brightly towards the Brit as he gently released the grasp on his waist, walking towards the door of the room.  
  
“Love you.” Lando called after him, hoping Max would hear before he exited the room. A small yell of “Love you too.” was audible to him before the door clicked shut, indicating that he was alone. 

Nervously, he clicked on to twitch, running through all the usual protocols before pressing okay on going live, taking a deep breath before looking up to the camera, greeting the already growing crowd as the fans started to comment all sorts.

“Hey guys, I see you out there. Today’s stream’s going to be a bit different because it’s a bit personal, I’ve got something I’d like to share with you all.” he started off, testing the waters gently to ease the viewers into the stream. The audience immediately were curious, and Lando smiled as he saw the enthusiasm from viewers, hoping the positivity would continue once the news dropped.

“How do I tell you all simply?” he mused, the microphone picking up on this as the chat turned to slight confusion, promises of support and love coming through as he tried to find the words to say, nothing really coming to mind.

“Well, Max and I are dating. Yes, as in Verstappen. It’s been over 2 years now and honestly, he just makes me so happy, and I wanted you all to know.” he eventually got out, almost crying of relief at the end. The comments in chat almost exploded at this, but Lando didn’t really care anymore as the emotion flooded his mind, tears starting to form in his eyes as he visibly relaxed, glad to have told them everything. 

The door soon clicked again, with Max’s footsteps soon audible over the soft carpet. Lando attempted to bring up a chair for him to sit on but Max declined, instead deciding to use Lando’s lap as his seat, slinging an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder. The camera filming them was long forgotten by Lando, all he focused on now were the calming blue eyes he knew so dearly, the ones that told him that no matter what, he was _home._

He didn’t care anymore, he could let the whole world watch, as he slowly leant towards the Dutchman, capturing his lips in a soft kiss gently, breaking out into a soft smile afterwards. He wasn’t afraid anymore, he’d let the whole world know Max was his, and it was all worth it just to see Max’s gentle smile back at him, caught up in his hold. Because that was true love.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed reading this :)  
> Kudos & comments would be amazing if you loved this!  
> 


End file.
